Less is more

The 718 Cayman is now the most affordable car Porsche makes. As James Fossdyke has been discovering, though, that doesn’t stop it being absolutely brilliant.

The Victorian poet Robert Browning was a wise man. Not only did he have the good sense to move to Italy, but he also coined the phrase ‘Less is more’. This assertion that simple things are somehow superior to their complex peers has struck a chord with so many people in so many walks of life, including Porsche.

In a world where luxury cars are all the rage – Mercedes, BMW and Audi all outsold Toyota and Nissan in the UK last year – it seems odd that a manufacturer like Porsche would move one of its cars downmarket. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what the German brand has done to the Cayman coupe.

Not so long ago, this six-cylinder mid-range sports car was finally peeping out from the shadow cast by its big brother, the 911. Now, however, the new Cayman is the cheapest car Porsche makes.

By becoming even more closely related to the convertible Boxster (a car once derided as the ‘poor man’s Porsche’) under the 718 banner, the Cayman has slipped beneath its soft-top stablemate in the Porsche hierarchy.

And it isn’t just the Cayman’s social standing that’s been reduced: the engine has shrunk in the wash, too. Tucked behind the seats was once a six-cylinder petrol power plant that was adored by everyone who tried it. But thanks to climate change and the demands of the European Union’s fuel economy test, that soulful, sonorous engine is gone, replaced with a smaller, turbo-charged four-cylinder unit.

Porsche enthusiasts will complain that this quest for economy has deprived the Cayman of its character, and they probably have a point. If you drive the two cars back to back, you might notice that the new engine doesn’t feel as sophisticated or as stately as its forebear.

To you and me, though, less really does seem to be more. There’s something naughtier and more rebellious about the new car’s exhaust note, and that isn’t the only thing going for it.